He Shouldn't Have Interfered
by Worlds Unreal
Summary: How Clark found out about Bruce and Dick. Or rather, how Clark mistook their completely appropriate feelings for something else and then it turns out he had been right all along. SLASH Bruce/Dick
1. Clark the Journalist

**Note:** Before you start reading, it might be helpful to know that Clark does not know Bruce Wayne is Batman. :)

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**Clark the Journalist**

Clark was a simple man. He was raised as a farm boy and never wanted anything more than a secure, happy life. But Clark's biology was anything but simple, and it inevitably pulled him into a very extraordinary lifestyle. He moved to the big city and made some very… unusual acquaintances. But even then, Clark was a simple farm boy and he wanted nothing more than the safety of the people he protected.

In the beginning, city life was strange to him and city folk even more so. But among all the cities in the world, Gotham was the loudest, brightest and most bewildering city he's ever known. So it was no surprise that Gotham's richest citizen was just as disconcerting.

Bruce Wayne was not a simple man, and Clark did not like the perverted smiles he flashed to no less than _all _the women he met. Even Lois.

His job as a journalist at the Daily Planet wasn't always a walk in the park, but despite all the ridiculous things Perry White asks him to do, visiting Gotham was the worst of them. He had it up till here with Bruce Wayne's newest girlfriends or newest cars or newest scandal. Just how many reports could a man write about Bruce Wayne in a single lifetime? So when Mr. White called Clark to his office and told him to go to Gotham _again_, Clark sighed.

"Don't give me that look, Clark. 'Tis the biggest news of the month. Hell, probably the year even. We haven't got anything on Supes for two months, so this is all we got for now."

"What exactly is it, Mr. White?"

"Well, apparently, pretty-boy Wayne decided he wanted a kid out of the blue."

"Ex- _excuse_ me?"

"He just announced that he took in a ten-year-old orphan boy. I'm vague on the details, but that's _your_ job. So take Jimmy with you and get out there."

And now Jimmy and him were face to face with the most eligible bachelor (who was, if Clark was being completely honest, indeed very handsome), and a small wide-eyed boy that hid behind the billionaire's legs.

"Uhm. First of all, thank you for agreeing to this interview. The Planet appreciates it."

"You're welcome," The billionaire glanced at the name Clark had scribbled on his notepad, "Clark."

"So, Mr. Wayne," Clark cleared his throat, "could you recount the events that lead to your new guardianship."

"Hmm. I believe you already know the first part from the reports, Clark." Bruce paused to place a hand on the boy's shoulder. It was almost… protective. "Dick deserved to have a new home, and I had one."

"So you took him in?"

"Yes." Bruce's smile was charming, every bit the playboy that he was. And suddenly, the hand Wayne still had on the boy's shoulder quickly became very… inappropriate. Clark swallowed.

"Could you tell us a little bit about Richard's-"

"Dick." A small voice piped up. Dick was peering up at Clark with the brightest eyes he had ever seen. "Call me Dick, Mr. Clark." Then the boy smiled. And it was so earnest and so sweet Clark forgot they were in Gotham of all cities. The smiles in Gotham were not supposed to be like that.

"Oh, okay. Hello Dick."

Jimmy fired up his camera and snapped a couple of shots at Dick's face. The boy gasped and moved closer to Bruce, startled by the sudden flashes.

"If you would be so kind, Mr. Olsen," Wayne's voice was suddenly much deeper than it was before and there was a… look, in his eyes that sent shivers even down Clark's spine, "to refrain from doing that."

"Oh- er… Sorry."

"Anyway, Mr. Wayne, could you tell us something about Dick?"

"What do you want to know?"

"For starters, what is his full name?"

"Richard John Grayson."

"And, uh, how old is he exactly?"

"Ten."

Clark wrote it down in his pad, because despite the reports and all the accounts, the boy barely even looked eight. Or maybe that was just because he was standing right next to Bruce Wayne.

"Before Dick moved to Gotham, where did he reside?"

"He lived with an international travelling circus. They moved from country to country every month or so. The last country they went to was Bruges."

Clark didn't mean to eavesdrop, but he couldn't help overhear the way Dick's heartbeat sped up. He guessed that everything must be very difficult for the boy. He had just lost his parents and was forced to leave behind the only life he ever knew. He was scared and vulnerable. And hard as it may be to believe, Bruce Wayne was the only one he had at the moment.

Then Clark noticed how Wayne's fingers moved to stroke the boy's neck.

Maybe Clark should … investigate.

* * *

"Geez, Clark, that guy seriously gives me the creeps."

"Bruce Wayne? What about him?"

Clark and Jimmy were in a hotel now. First thing the next day, they would leave this god-forsaken city and return to Metropolis, but for the moment they were still stuck in Gotham. Worst part was, they were stuck in a hotel owned by Wayne Enterprises. Bruce Wayne had been 'kind' enough to offer them a free-of-charge stay in a five star hotel. Mr. White wasn't one to refuse.

"I don't know. There's just something about his- the look in his eyes. It just chills me. And the _kid_, Clark. He's _so_ tiny!"

"I guess it's just a Gotham thing."

"Guess so." Jimmy scratched the back of his neck idly.

"I'm going to bed, wouldn't want to oversleep tomorrow, our flight is at seven."

"Right. See you tomorrow, then."

"Good night."

Jimmy made to leave, but then changed his mind and turned back around.

"Wait, Clark?"

"Yeah?"

"How did he know my name?"

Clark shrugged and walked off to his room, leaving Jimmy alone with his thoughts.

* * *

Wayne lived in a mansion. A huge, freaking mansion. It was quiet, even with his superhearing. All he could hear was the wind in the trees and the screeching of a hundred bats. Superman strained to hear the beating of hearts.

He heard a single heart thumping slowly from one wing of the Manor. Male, Clark guessed, and elderly. Not Bruce then, or the boy. Clark focused on the other side of the building, and heard the rhythmic beating of two more hearts. One was obviously much smaller and its beats came quicker, the other's beats were deep and controlled. Clark didn't know Bruce Wayne was such an athlete.

Clark moved closer, and it occurred to him that there wasn't very much distance between the two beating hearts. Actually, they were practically side by side. Huh?

He flew over to the room where Bruce Wayne and the boy should be.

Spying was something Clark avoided. He would never usually abuse his powers to violate people's privacy, but this was different. Supervision would easily do the trick.

But what he saw almost made him gasp out loud. Wayne and ten-year-old Dick were in a bed. Together. _Oh lord._ Wayne had- he had his arms wrapped around the boy. Around his narrow shoulders and his small waist. They were _so close_ to each other.

And- and was that sobs he heard? Was little Dick crying?

Clark had to do something. He had to do something _this second_. He was Superman, he had to safe the boy. He had to-

Then he heard somebody speaking.

"Bruce-" It was Dick.

"Bruce, I'm sorry." He said between sobs, "I just- I just _miss _them."

Clark stared in horrified shock.

"I know, Dick. I know." And Bruce's voice was… _different. _He had never heard such softness and kindness in Bruce Wayne's voice.

"Does it ever stop hurting, Bruce?" Dick whispered, so softly Clark almost doubted Bruce heard.

"Oh Dick, I wish I could say yes. But I promise that I'll be here when you need me." Wayne moved his hand and carefully (so, so carefully) wiped the tears from Dick's face. "I'll always be here."

And _wow. That_ wasn't Bruce Wayne, except that it was.

Clark left. Confused and more than a little guilty. It appeared that he had judged too quickly. Maybe Bruce Wayne wasn't such a bad guy after all.

Weird. Something nagged at the back of his mind, something odd, but at the moment he felt guilty enough that he quickly forgot about it.

He made his way back to the hotel room that Bruce Wayne had paid for.

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**Note:** So, what did you think? Reviews would be greatly appreciated!


	2. Clark and the Flying Robin

**Notes: **Thank you to those who have favorited or reviewed this story! I greatly appreciate any kind of feedback. Enjoy the chapter :)

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**Clark and the Flying Robin**

The Justice League had just returned to the Watchtower. Mere moments ago, they were in Gotham to stop a sabotaged nuclear plant from melting down. It was right in the centre of the city (although why anyone would ever build a nuclear plant in the middle of a city was beyond him) and much to the team's dismay, a _crowd _had formed to watch them. If anything went wrong, those people would have _fried_ instantly. The G.C.P.D was as useful as a sack of potatoes and the leaguers didn't have the time to evacuate anyone.

But despite that, they managed to handle it without a single person getting hurt. Clark had considered it a job well done. But, of course, Batman begged to differ. Correction. Batman _never_ begged. He just… differed.

"Team meeting, now."

"What is it, Batman?" Diana wasn't one to be kept in the dark.

"You'll see." And the Bat was gone with a swirl of his black cape.

"Superman," The team was gathered in the conference hall. Clark looked up at the mention of his name- or moniker, whatever- it was hard to think about anything when Batman was looking straight at him with those blank lenses of his, "when you contained the meltdown in Gotham, there were a lot of bystanders. You were successful and there was no stray radiation or shrapnel, but your efforts still managed to raise panic."

Batman paused to eye Clark.

"The hysteria quickly spread while the team was too occupied to control the rioting crowd."

Batman pressed a button and a projection popped up, "Due to the chaos, at least ten civilians have been hospitalized and there have been reports of robberies and multiple fires across the city."

John quickly stood up, "Then why are we sitting here talking about it? We must do something."

"Sit down." John stared at Batman in disbelief, but obeyed. "It's been taken care of. The last fires have just been put out and the panic has been subdued."

"But how?" It was the Flash, "It's only been about twenty minutes since Supes cooled down the plant, and I know I'm fast but even I'm not _that _fast."

Batman ignored him, "My point being, our current approach is-"

The Flash had a point. There had barely been any time to react. Clark knew Batman was… well, the _Batman_, but still. Batman had been with the League the entire time and they had returned to the Watchtower as soon as they secured the meltdown. Clark seriously doubted the police or fire department could have reacted that quickly. It was… impressive, for lack of a better word.

Even for Batman.

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Despite his distaste for the city, Clark found himself in Gotham again. He thought it wasn't a bad idea to check if everything was alright.

Only that there _wasn't _anything 'not alright' left.

Batman really meant it when he said that it's been taken care of.

Even with superhearing, the city was as quiet as Gotham could possibly be. Sirens in the distance, but that was no concern, wind, police intercom, club music and-

"Wow! Are you really Superman?"

"Huh?" Clark spun around, "What?" But there was nobody there. With a jolt, he realized he was hovering at least ten stories above the ground.

"Who said that?" And how didn't he pick anything up with his superhearing?

"Me!" And a smiling face popped in front of him.

"Gah!"

"Oh, sorry. Did I scare you?"

Clark backed up and for the first time saw that it was, in fact, a boy hanging upside down from some sort of chord. And he was wearing… whatever _that_ was. Wait. A _boy_ was _hanging_ from a chord _ten stories _above the ground?!

"What do you think you're doing?" Clark quickly moved to get a hold on the child before he started plummeting towards his doom. Then the boy, he- _flew _out of Clark's reach and landed on a roof.

"You can fly?"

The boy started laughing.

"No, silly." And he smiled at Clark, "But I can do all sorts of other cool stuff! Would you like to-"

"Please don't." He held out his hands to stop him from jumping off the edge. To his eternal relief, the boy stilled and crouched.

"It really _is_ you, isn't it? Superman!"

Clark cleared his throat, because what _in the world_ was this kid thinking? Where were his parents?

"_What_ are you doing?"

"Hmm? Oh, I just put out the fires." The boy beamed at him. "Did a pretty good job, don't you think?"

"_You_ put out the fires? Who-" He was wearing some kind of mask to cover his eyes, and Clark was about to peek through them when the boy suddenly jumped up.

"I just remembered that you have that X-ray vision thing! Please don't peek! B- Uh… Just don't."

"Alright, but you better tell me what's going on here."

"Oh right, sorry." The boy crouched down again and Clark hovered over to the small figure in the ridiculously colored outfit. "I'm Robin. Nice to meet you."

"So, Robin. Mind telling me what you are doing ten stories above the ground?"

"I was going to meet Batman." Robin said so matter-of-factly and with such nonchalance, Clark thought he must have heard wrong. But he had superhearing, he _never_ heard wrong.

"Meet Batman? _The_ Batman? _Where_?"

"Right over…."

"Here." And _that_ was undoubtedly _the_ Batman's voice.

"Batman! What- Who-"

"I told you, I'm Robin." The boy flew- no- he _jumped _to Batman's side.

"Why are you in Gotham again?"

"I was checking up if everything was alright, then I suddenly saw- uh.. Robin hanging at least a hundred feet above the ground."

Batman was glaring at him with those ghastly white eyes, and despite his super strength and his super everything, he felt his nerves jitter.

"Don't you have your own city to worry about?"

"Yes, but- but- _Robin_? I mean, is he alright?"

"Robin is with me. He's fine."

"_With_ you?"

"Yep!" Robin grinned at Clark then at Batman, who completely ignored him, then back at Clark.

"Oh- Uhm. Okay then, I… guess I'll be going. Nice meeting you. Robin."

"See you around-" Robin flashed him a cheeky smile but Clark was already flying back to Metropolis faster than the speed of sound. He would be home in less than a minute. His safe, normal home in Metropolis without children somersaulting from rooftop to rooftop. But then he heard the end of Robin's sentence.

"-Clark."

He halted. So abruptly he nearly went spinning out of control with the momentum. The next thing he heard was a fit of giggles, quickly followed by a growl that sounded suspiciously like 'let's go home'.

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**Notes: **Please tell me what you think about it! What did you think of the Justice League? And of Batman? And Robin?


	3. Clark in Doubt

**Clark in Doubt**

"Say, Lois,"

"What's up, Smallville?"

"Would it be weird if, you know, I… decided to teach a kid to fight crime?"

Lois blinked at him a couple of times, then burst into laughter.

"_You_? Fight crime? That wouldn't only be weird, but it will also be the craziest thing I would ever see in my life. And we both know we've seen some _crazy_ things out there." Lois patted his shoulder, Clark cleared his throat to disguise the slight blush that threatened to creep up his cheeks.

"That's not really what I meant, Lois. I mean- uh- would it be… correct?" Lois frowned at him, "Would it be… _morally_ correct?"

"Clark, what has gotten into you?"

"I was just thinking about a… movie. Yes, a movie I saw." He adjusted his glasses.

"Well, a _kid_ fighting crime,huh?" Lois cocked her hip to one side, "Can't say it's the most conventional thing to do. The guy must be pretty batty to even think about it."

"Batty." Clark adjusted his glasses again, "Hmm. Okay."

"I guess it wouldn't exactly be the _best _thing to do. It's a _kid_ and crime fighting can get nasty, remember?"

"Yes. Yes it can."

"It probably comes down to traumatizing the child, more than just getting him hurt or killed or anything like that."

"How so?"

Lois looked at him curiously, "Well, just think about the kind of people this kid will deal with. Rapists, murderers, psychopaths, _pedophiles_? How would a child react to _that_?"

"I suppose you're right."

"Really." Lois raised a sleek eyebrow, "_What_ movie was that?"

"Oh. It's nothing. A really old one I found in the attic of my house." Lois eyed him some more, "In Kansas." He added quickly.

Lois laughed again, "That figures. Gotta run, Smallville, I have some papers to turn in."

"Alright, Lois. Good luck."

Lois left, and Clark went back to the article he was working on.

Mr. White had asked him to cover the Gotham power plant incident from the previous night. It's almost horrifying, really. It's as if Mr. White _knew. _Clark almost always had to cover news that had Superman in it. Or maybe it's just because Clark somehow always managed to have the best info about anything Superman-related.

Huh.

'LAST NIGHT, THE POLICE FORCE AND FIRE DEPARTMENT WERE QUICK TO ACT AGAINST THE RISING HYSTERIA IN THE CITY. ACCORDING TO G.C.P.D. COMMISIONER JIM GORDON, IT COULD NOT HAVE TAKEN AUTHORITIES MORE THAN HALF AN HOUR TO CONTROL THE SITUATION. COMMENTARY AND RUMORS ABOUT ASSISTANCE FROM _THE BATMAN_ HAVE BEEN DISPUTED BY MAYOR HILL.'

Clark sighed.

_Robin is with me._

How old _was_ Robin even?

Sure, he trusted Batman, but Robin barely even looked eight. Or maybe that was just because he was standing right next to Batman.

Wait. What?

Clark thought he just had the weirdest déjà vu ever.

* * *

"Team, I have an announcement to make." Once again they were gathered in the conference hall, "So please be seated."

Clark sat down and watched the other leaguers take their seats, warily looking at Batman who stood as a black shadow in the centre. It was little over a week after he had met Robin bouncing around on Gotham's rooftops.

"As some of you may already be aware," Batman started, "I have decided to take on a protégé."

There was a collective ripple of confusion.

"He goes by the name of Robin, and he will mainly operate in Gotham." Batman pressed a button and an image of Robin was displayed before the team. He was in costume and masked, standing about four feet four above the ground and almost sinfully delicate.

"A protégé?" It was the Flash, "You mean like me and Kid Flash?"

"Yes. He will be my responsibility and I will see to his training."

"But Kid Flash is blessed with the gift of speed and endurance," Diana spoke up, "and he does not partake in any form of vigilantism."

"What's your point?"

"I am trying to say what you are doing could potentially bring harm to the child. Not only physically."

"I said that he is my responsibility, do you doubt my word, Diana?"

There was silence for a heartbeat, tense and loaded, "No."

"Then that is settled."

But Clark still wanted to know so much more about this sprightly, multi-colored young boy (and whatever sort of sorcery had gotten into Batman to take him as a protégé). But wait, hadn't there just been a Blackgate prison breakout? Superman should definitely come and visit Gotham to lend a helpful hand.

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**Notes: **A short chapter. :) I'll upload the next chapter really soon, probably by the end of next week. In the meantime, enjoy the story and tell me what you think of it so far! :D  
P.s. Thanks for all the reviews!


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